48 minutes ago, Hatz said:

When I saw Wagner AND Thiero hit jump shots and 3's, I knew it was going to be a long night.  

Agree. When Wagner hit his second three pointer, I said this game is over.

10 hours ago, bugatti said:

Here's the short of it.

Since Calipari's departure and Pope's hire, the prevailing mood around the Commonwealth is that Calipari is a washed-up fossil who couldn’t coach an intramural team, while UK is seen as having hit a home run with a basketball savant—finally having "a guy who can coach" (meanwhile, ignoring that Pope was UK's 3rd or 4th choice and has no post-season resume). The reality is, neither of these extremes is true, and like most, I’m glad Kentucky moved on from Calipari and I love Pope! But what does it say about Pope that he was worked at home by a coach with such a high level of ineptitude? I'm sure like most of UK's struggles this year, it will come down to the players not executing, not coaching. Compare that against the last X years of Calipari, where if a layup was blown, it was because "Calipari didn't practice the fundamentals." If we are applying half the level of scrutiny to Pope as was given to UK-Cal, then I can surmise the moment was too big for him and he did not have the troops ready to go. Again, you can't have it both ways where a coach gets 100% of the credit if you are not going to give him 100% of the blame.

Spot-on

They just need to quit playing on Saturday.  They're 11-2 on any other day, but only 4-4 on Saturdays.  Hopefully get they a Friday/Sunday schedule in the tournament. 

22 hours ago, bugatti said:

Here's the short of it.

Since Calipari's departure and Pope's hire, the prevailing mood around the Commonwealth is that Calipari is a washed-up fossil who couldn’t coach an intramural team, while UK is seen as having hit a home run with a basketball savant—finally having "a guy who can coach" (meanwhile, ignoring that Pope was UK's 3rd or 4th choice and has no post-season resume). The reality is, neither of these extremes is true, and like most, I’m glad Kentucky moved on from Calipari and I love Pope! But what does it say about Pope that he was worked at home by a coach with such a high level of ineptitude? I'm sure like most of UK's struggles this year, it will come down to the players not executing, not coaching. Compare that against the last X years of Calipari, where if a layup was blown, it was because "Calipari didn't practice the fundamentals." If we are applying half the level of scrutiny to Pope as was given to UK-Cal, then I can surmise the moment was too big for him and he did not have the troops ready to go. Again, you can't have it both ways where a coach gets 100% of the credit if you are not going to give him 100% of the blame.

This!!!

On 2/2/2025 at 10:50 PM, Randy Parker said:

They look like fools after last night.

I mean they always look like fools, who are we kidding. ?

8 hours ago, TheDeuce said:

I mean they always look like fools, who are we kidding. ?

Cal’s Hogs are 13-8 and 2-7 in conference, one win doesn’t make serious UK fans look like fools, the people still cherishing him should take a look and see what their own situation might look like.

15 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Cal’s Hogs are 13-8 and 2-7 in conference, one win doesn’t make serious UK fans look like fools, the people still cherishing him should take a look and see what their own situation might look like.

That's an interesting take.

15 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Cal’s Hogs are 13-8 and 2-7 in conference, one win doesn’t make serious UK fans look like fools, the people still cherishing him should take a look and see what their own situation might look like.

No one is cherishing him. Just some of you all acted like he was the worse coach in basketball and literally complained about everything he did. When he literally has been extremely successful at three different schools in Umass, Memphis, and Kentucky. So clearly a much better coach than you all ever wanted to give credit for. Which is where most of the arguments on the topic was about. I think mostly everyone agrees it was still the right time for both parties to move on. Cal has no doubt struggled at Arkansas, but unfortunately things aren’t looking to good hear anymore either. Losing 4 out of 5 games, horrible defense all year, and consistently getting down double digits to many teams this year. Luckily the offense was able to overcome that and come back in a few of those games, or else we would be in real big trouble right now. 

53 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

No one is cherishing him. Just some of you all acted like he was the worse coach in basketball and literally complained about everything he did. When he literally has been extremely successful at three different schools in Umass, Memphis, and Kentucky. So clearly a much better coach than you all ever wanted to give credit for. Which is where most of the arguments on the topic was about. I think mostly everyone agrees it was still the right time for both parties to move on. Cal has no doubt struggled at Arkansas, but unfortunately things aren’t looking to good hear anymore either. Losing 4 out of 5 games, horrible defense all year, and consistently getting down double digits to many teams this year. Luckily the offense was able to overcome that and come back in a few of those games, or else we would be in real big trouble right now. 

Wouldn’t consider 6 wins vs top 20 teams in a terrible condition!!

2 hours ago, nikeman49 said:

Wouldn’t consider 6 wins vs top 20 teams in a terrible condition!!

Hence the comment about luckily our offense was good enough to overcome double digits deficits a few times, or else we would be in a very bad spot right now. Considering a few of those double digit comebacks came in a couple of those 6 wins against top 20 teams. 

Enjoy it Arkansas fans, you just watched the best game your team will play all year.

On 2/1/2025 at 10:31 PM, Voice of Reason said:

Pope is struggling on how to get some defense out of this roster. I think at this point in the season he needs to play the offensive players and try to outscore teams. The better defensive players just can't produce enough offense.

Exactly who are the better defensive players, lol.

7 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Exactly who are the better defensive players, lol.

Good point. 

The ones who will make the necessary effort?

7 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

Exactly who are the better defensive players, lol.

Going into this year the better defensive players were suppose to be Butler, Oweh, and Williams. A couple of former defensive players of the year in those 3. Which obviously Butler being out hasn't helped anything, however they have been a bad defensive team all year, even when he played. So something clearly is not hitting with these players, either how Pope teaches defense. Pope not holding them accountable to play the defense the way he wants it, or something. 

I know I kind of mentioned after the Tennessee game. I thought Pope coached that game with a lot more energy and fire, and I think that helped some. I don't think it would be the worst thing to see him get on the players a little more. It may not have to be as much yelling as Cal use to do, but I do think he may need to be tougher on them. 

29 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

Going into this year the better defensive players were suppose to be Butler, Oweh, and Williams. A couple of former defensive players of the year in those 3. Which obviously Butler being out hasn't helped anything, however they have been a bad defensive team all year, even when he played. So something clearly is not hitting with these players, either how Pope teaches defense. Pope not holding them accountable to play the defense the way he wants it, or something. 

I know I kind of mentioned after the Tennessee game. I thought Pope coached that game with a lot more energy and fire, and I think that helped some. I don't think it would be the worst thing to see him get on the players a little more. It may not have to be as much yelling as Cal use to do, but I do think he may need to be tougher on them. 

Pope sounded like a whipped puppy on the radio after the Ole Miss game.